In reading this chapter, I was first stuck on what I immediately picked out as absurd contradictions in Flora Shaw's beliefs. Although Shaw advanced farther in her traditionally masculine career as a journalist and sought experiences, professional advancement, and influence beyond the norm for her gender, she maintained the imperialist constructs of women for social life. She supported neither the advancement of women's rights nor women's suffrage. While another female significant to the Western imperialist movement, Isabelle Eberhardt, held more consistent ideas about gender (For more information, click here), I think that Shaw was blinded by what I saw as an obsessive dedication to the imperial cause, which led to a belief system that appears illogical to an outside perspective.
When I recovered from my instinctive distaste for what I interpreted as Shaw's hypocrisy of thought, I was struck by the realization that her contrasting beliefs were not uncommon. We are all, as humans, prone to let ourselves become so blinded by a passion, emotion, desire, etc. that we are unable to see our own incongruity. Many belief systems, or schools of thought, contain contradictions that are rarely questioned or even noticed because they are so commonly held. Perhaps if Shaw's support of untraditional professional roles and traditional social roles for women was a common ideology of today, I would not have given it a second thought.
When I analyze myself, my own culture, and popular belief systems, I find blaring examples of this. A common example that comes to my mind instantly is of the "pro-life" ideology. People who label themselves as "pro-life" typically also support the use of capital punishment. It seems more intuitive to me that a person who says they are strictly "pro-life" would, in the political realm, oppose abortion, oppose capital punishment, oppose warfare, and support environmental protection laws. (Of course, these issues are highly controversial, and I welcome the opinions of readers.)
When you evaluate your own beliefs, and those around you, what contradictions can you find? How are these seeming hypocrisies justified in our culture today?
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